Heald Celebrates National Apprenticeship Week

Apprenticeships have long been at the heart of Heald’s recruitment and skills development strategy, and with this year’s National Apprenticeship Week theme being “Build The Future” we wanted to share some insights into the role apprentices play within our business and where they are now.

Supporting the next generation of talent

As a manufacturer of niche, market-leading security products, finding individuals with the skills Heald needs can sometimes be a challenge. The apprenticeship scheme has enabled us to combat this by recruiting from schools, colleges or universities to fill the gaps in our business, or to allow existing members of staff to undertake training and development in key business areas to support their progression.

Our relationship with education and training organisations including Ron Dearing UTC, Hornsea School & Language College and other providers enables us to showcase the career opportunities available within the manufacturing industry. Alongside this we are able to provide work experience opportunities to give young people a taste of future career opportunities available to them before they take the step into apprenticeships.

Our apprentices 

Currently, Heald has five employees undertaking apprenticeship training courses that cover areas such as business administration, metal fabrication, engineer fitter and electrical engineering. Alongside this, we have five other employees who have continued to work at Heald following the completion of their apprenticeship training.

Our apprentices gain vital skills that not only support their progression and Heald’s growth but that of our local community too. As one of the largest employers outside of the travel and leisure industry in the area, we provide our colleagues with the opportunity for career stability and progression.

Apprenticeship Case Study

Natasha McDermott  – Sales Administrator

Natasha McDermott joined Heald in October 2019 as a Sales Administration apprentice having graduated from the University of Leicester with a degree in Geology with Geophysics. In March 2021, Natasha completed a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship in Sales via East Riding College.

Natasha joined Heald during a period of increased growth and was brought on board to support the internal sales team in handling incoming enquiries both directly from customers and our global distribution network to support further growth.

Natasha’s primary role involves responding to brochure downloads and sales enquiries and creating quotes. However, her wider role sees her organising site surveys, creating engineer packs, assisting the maintenance department when required, creating job files, weekly and monthly sales reports along with additional tasks such as product presentations and updating spare parts lists.

Natasha is trusted to undertake ad-hoc research, often on complex topics around security and hostile vehicle mitigation, both in the UK, Europe, the USA and other countries. She provides concise and factual reports enabling the business to make decisions around strategy and sales activities.

In 2021, Natasha was crowned the winner at the Hull Daily Mail Business Awards in the Apprentice of the Year category, alongside being named Hull College’s Apprentice of the Year following a nomination by her college assessor. 

Since the completion of her apprenticeship, Natasha now has autonomy on projects, and is developing in her role to provide more technical support for the sales and marketing teams.

To discover more about the current apprenticeship openings, visit our careers page.